We at Bold Idea have selected two north Texas students to receive its inaugural Bold & Bright Award - Elias Land of Adamson High School in Dallas and Jessica Obonna of Wylie High School in Wylie. The students will be recognized at Bold Idea’s Annual Celebration on June 14 at OrderMyGear in Dallas.
The new annual award recognizes outstanding Bold Idea students who have demonstrated advanced computer science skills, built creative coding projects, and have set goals to pursue careers and college fields of study in computer science. The recognition also highlights Bold Idea’s commitment to close the computer science opportunity gap for north Texas students. As the mastery of computer science becomes increasingly critical for college and career success, both girls and Black and Latinx students have historically been underrepresented in STEM fields and computer science classrooms.
“Supporting students like Elias and Jessica is one step in the right direction towards addressing these issues,” said Robyn Brown, Bold Idea CEO and Founder. “All students deserve the opportunity to learn computer science and create their bold ideas using technology. We believe this award will provide opportunities these students need to succeed in their future computer science endeavors.”
The students, both rising high school seniors, have participated in Bold Idea’s ideaSpark Coding Clubs program since middle school and have their sights set on careers in technology.
“My goal is to one day use the skills I’ve learned through my Bold Idea journey and as I progress through computer science to make a positive impact,” said Jessica Obonna. “I’d like to be more independent with my projects next year and start to advance my knowledge of coding. I would also like to narrow down my job search and truly figure out what path I want to take with computer science and start to work towards that goal at full speed.”
“My dream job is to work for law enforcement, possibly even the FBI, as a cybersecurity agent/analyst,” said Elias Land. “Next year, if possible, I would like to develop coding skills that will develop me in my future journey to learn cybersecurity. If not, then I would love to learn how I can take the web design skills that I already have to the next level.”
Award benefits:
As Bold & Bright Award recipients, the students will receive further college and career readiness opportunities. They include:
Personalized, 1:1 mentoring their senior year of high school to give additional coding skill development and assist with college readiness
A trip to NASA to job shadow an engineer in summer 2023
A letter of recommendation for their college applications
A summer 2024 internship with a local tech company upon the completion of their senior year of high school
The 2023 Bold & Bright Award is sponsored by Roderick and Jill Burns of Dallas and IF/THEN®, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies. IF/THEN® is a national initiative designed to activate a culture shift among young girls to open their eyes to STEM careers.
The Annual Celebration is open to the public and tickets may be reserved HERE